Anotace:
This paper focuses on the dynamic capabilities of exporters during the pandemic, specifically on export adaptability – since it is core to responding to and enduring the pandemic’s turmoil. COVID-19 manifested sudden enduring uncertainty with severe implications for international operations, disrupting global value-chains and impacting world trade with devastating effect – crucially requiring exporting firms to swiftly adapt to cope and surmount havoc. The objectives of the research are twofold: to explore the combined impact of firms’ export adaptability dynamic capabilities, together with specific exporter characteristics, on export customer satisfaction in COVID-19 times; to analyse the moderating effect of the firms’ competitive advantage on this relationship. Our study investigates agri-food exporting companies in Chile, an export-oriented country in this sector. We adopt a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) methodology. This approach offers ideal causality identification, as it is based on the premise that outcomes of interest usually have multiple interdependent causes. We conclude that the presence of exporting firms’ adaptability capability, together with characteristics typically inherent in being a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME), and a permanent exporter, significantly favour export customer satisfaction, and that having a strong competitive advantage intensifies this relationship.